Thank you to the hikers at Backpacker who suggested this one to me! What a beautiful place. Flowers were in full bloom, and Shannon and I got a personalized wildflower walk with two of the volunteer rangers. Very cool! I took a million photos of mistletoe, oaks and all those rolling hills. The orange california poppies against that sea of green was incredible. I was surprised to see how many plants this part of California had in common with the PNW. The ecosystem here is quite different than what I am used to, but it was still magical.

The redwoods are beautiful! I ended up identifying plants to a couple of tourists from Wisconsin (why does this always happen to me?) and made friends with the interpretive ranger. He was daring kids to kiss a banana slug, and dared me to...Of course this was after he knew I was a fellow parkie, so I felt obligated to do it. Did you know that it is TRUE that slug slime numbs your lips?! Kinda gross, but funny anyway. We also had an interesting conversation about the seeds for sale in the gift shop and the Park Service's non-native plant control policies. Why sell seeds in the gift shop when you know they are going to be planted all over the world? Seems counter productive to me. Gabe and I spent the second half of this day in Sonoma tasting wine and making friends with the wine shop owner.

Oh, it was so nice to get out of the house and stretch my legs! This is a typical Washington lowland hike. The skunk cabbage's yellow hoods were just coming up through the mud. Am I the only one who thinks that skunk cabbage is pretty? Its a sign that spring is here.  The lake is really pretty and I thought it would be a good place to go swimming (in the summer) until I saw all the garbage (hooks, line) left from fishermen.

What a beautiful spring day! Sunny and warm. There were lots of interesting plants to identify. Calypso orchids, indian paintbrush, rattlesnake plantain orchid (Gabe knows this one!) and red-flowering currant. The biodiversity here never fails to amaze me. Bowman bay is beautiful too and has some nice views of the water (from the trails).

Lizabeth was in town from Missoula and we went hiking with her friend, Rachael at Deception Pass. Rachael hadn't ever been here, poor girl. A fabulous sunny day to go play in the woods and on the beach. This place is amazing! We wandered in and out of the woods, following the trail that runs adjacent to the beach. Lizabeth told us about "wishing stones" so we all made wishes and tossed our rocks into the water. I wishing stone is one with a different colored band that goes all the way around it. I got to play with her new puppy, Mitzi! She's a character and lots of fun! We had dinner at the Skagit River Brewery on the way home. Good beer, good times.

This was another Old Growth Class field trip. This place is freakin amazing! We got to go up in the wind river canopy crane. There is nothing like looking DOWN at the tops of old growth trees. Our hiking got cut short because it started to thunder and lightning and hail on us. I thought it was pretty cool, but since it was a field trip...bah! Jerry Franklin (the prof) took us to Cedar Flats and told us his story about how he was stalked there by a Sasquach. Cedar Flats was beautiful, including nice views of the Lewis River.